Jump Financial LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. $GGG

Key Points

• Jump Financial LLC significantly increased its stake in Graco Inc. by 2,474.0%, acquiring an additional 123,702 shares, bringing its total ownership to 128,702 shares worth approximately $10.75 million.
• Graco's recent quarterly earnings showed a miss in EPS at $0.75 compared to expectations of $0.78, despite a year-over-year revenue growth of 3.4%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.275, with an annual yield of 1.3%, reflecting a payout ratio of 39.01%.

Jump Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 2,474.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 128,702 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 123,702 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC owned 0.08% of Graco worth $10,748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Graco by 2.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,390,940 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $199,667,000 after purchasing an additional 62,761 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Graco by 36.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,929,952 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $162,676,000 after acquiring an additional 518,462 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Graco by 1.6% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,828,962 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $152,737,000 after acquiring an additional 28,795 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Graco by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,191,033 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $100,392,000 after acquiring an additional 79,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Graco by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,166,270 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $98,305,000 after purchasing an additional 65,399 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graco Stock Down 1.1%

GGG traded down $0.92 on Thursday, hitting $86.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 402,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 815,728. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $85.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.23. The firm has a market cap of $14.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.04. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $72.06 and a 12 month high of $92.86.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $571.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $590.57 million. Graco had a return on equity of 19.05% and a net margin of 22.26%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 21st were issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 21st. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GGG. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Graco in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Graco currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $94.50.

Graco Company Profile

Graco Inc designs, manufactures, and markets systems and equipment used to move, measure, control, dispense, and spray fluid and powder materials worldwide. The Contractor segment offers sprayers to apply paint to walls and other structures; two-component proportioning systems that are used to spray polyurethane foam and polyurea coatings; and viscous coatings to roofs, as well as markings on roads, parking lots, athletic fields, and floors.